Raindrops
by Blue Flaming Wings
Summary: Life continues on, but for Rikuo Sakisaka everything has changed.


Raindrops

It didn't take more than two strides for Rikuo to cross his room and collapse on his futon with a sigh and flutter of sheets. He stared up at the ceiling, seeing the sleek metallic grayness of the walls that enclosed him. The darkness of the night hid the posters of bands on the walls and stretched out his desk and dresser into elongated shadows. Though he'd rather be caught dead than tell Naoka-nee this – Rikuo actually had an old childhood fear of the dark. From where he lay on the ground everything around him in the room seemed to tower above him; the gleaming red light of the HDU panel above the light switch had always held a faint menace to him in his earliest memories.

Now though he could only smile as he buried his face deeper into his sheets.

"_I've seen so many things here. There's a lot of problems, each time it's distressing. But I feel like this is the right path."_

Even now, hours later, the words rang in his head. They sung with the solid thrum of truth. And with that truth, a weight that had settled through his body, coalescing into a numbing iron skin, disintegrated in one moment. Those words … how long has he wanted to say them, admit them? This really is the right path. His smile widened as he felt the beginnings of slumber catch him.

"_Speak to me!"_

Rikuo jerked up, the words sounding in his head.

_That's right. _Rikuo thought as he bent over, clutching at his head, feeling his fingernails scrap into his scalp. _Masaki had said that to his THX … TEX was his name, I think. "What were you thinking?" He had said. "For all those years …" What was he think – _

An image flashed in his head, cutting through the haze of foggy midnight thoughts. The image of a young woman who had raindrops pouring down on her, matting her brown tresses into slick clumps that clung to her skin, as real to the touch as any human's. Her eyes, framed by those locks of soaked hair, stared and stared out at him, where Rikuo stood by the side of the road, umbrella clutched in hand as giggles faded in the distance.

Rikuo hurried out of the room before he even realized what he did. _Water._ He thought as he crept down the stairs. Maybe some water would clear his head, make the haze that surrounded his thoughts and kept him up recede, so that he could finally slip back into slumber. He had to trail a hand on the wall in order to orient himself. The darkness of the night and unlit room caused a heavy blackness to surround him – one that he had to push himself through. He felt the plush of the couch that Naoka-nee lazied about on, which meant the kitchen table would be in the middle and the counter would be – ah! There!

He felt the cold tiles of the kitchen counter beneath his fingers. It did not take long to trace his way to the end of the counter to find the fridge. He opened the fridge door with a creek, showering light which broke through the thick darkness. As usual, the contents of the fridge were full – okaa-san kept it stuffed. He just pulled out a water bottle as a voice reached him from behind.

"Master."

He should have expected it. In fact, the reason why he went down in the first place might have been to speak to her. But still, when her voice came out of nowhere like that he yelped and fumbled with the water so it didn't fall. He took a breath and turned around.

"Sammy! You scared me."

"Sorry," She said, her eyes darting to the floor for a split of a second before glancing at his face again, "What are you doing up?"

That gesture alone spoke to him. It told him of the slackening of her defenses, gave him a peek behind the mask.

Perhaps that was why ... no ... that was why a smile perked on his lips, "Just getting some water," He said, bringing the bottle to his lips. When he brought it down he turned to Sammy, "What about you? What are you doing right now?"

Like many androids Sammy had no need to sleep, and so, in the depths of night as the Sakisakas slept, she did housewide chores like cleaning, sweeping, vacuuming (put in silent mode – of course) and preparing breakfast for the family when they awake first thing in the morning.

But instead of any of that, Sammy just gestured to the couch. "I was bringing a blanket for Naoka-sama."

Rikuo approached the couch, clutched at the upholstery and glanced down. Sure enough, Naoka-nee slumped over the side of the seats, droll dribbling down her chin, had been wrapped in a fuzzy blue blanket. "Ara," Rikuo said, half a smirksmile gracing his face, "She's been out drinking again."

Sammy slid behind him with a silent, effortless, nonhuman grace. "She seems to be having fun every night with her college friends." She said. She probably had more of a smile than a smirk on her face. In fact, her expressions were so rare that Rikuo stole a glance at her face by instinct.

"What is that?"

Following his pointing, Sammy raised a hand to the lily flower tucked into her hair. Her smile, for she had smiled when she spoke on Naoka-nee, grew. She ran her fingers over the petals. "Okaa-san," She said, as if she was her okaa-san as well, "She gave it to me."

"I see."

"Do you like it?"

Rikuo jerked his head up to look at her, but she had glanced down in a hurry. But he could still see it, the flush on her cheeks, the way her fingers curled up on the hem of her dress. His eyes widened. Akiko had told him that during the times Sammy did come in to the Time of Eve (they always missed each other for some odd reason) that she had acted shy, even meek. Her heart pried open at a trickling pace. So different from the stoicism she so carefully crafted at home. He had seen snapshots of that shyness the couple of times they had bumped into each other at the café, but here, now, he saw it at home. Where before she had kept that barrier of professionalism about her now it was crumbling away. Her question itself, an echo of an earlier one about a headband, was yet another indication.

And it was her question more than anything that made the words tumble from his lips.

"This Saturday … will you go to the Time of Eve with me?"

Her hand fell from the flower. Her eyes widened, scrunching up her forehead and nose.

_So that's how she looks when surprised. _

...…..

So, I rewatched Time of Eve for the second time a few days ago and the idea for this fic hasn't left me alone since. It just came from a simple idea – that given how much weight Rikuo's and Sammy's relationship is given the fact that they only have a handful of talks, none of which are in the Time of Eve where Sammy can act human, seems to be a bit of an oversight. I expect this fic will be short (a minific for a miniseries) and only go for two or three more chapters.

For fans of Distant Hills – sorry, this isn't a sign that I'll be more active and start up that fic again. I'll probably just finish this piece and then go quiet again … unless I'm inspired to write another short piece that I can crank out in a day or two.

I'll write the next chapter when I have the time. Till then, chao!

BFW


End file.
